“Hollywood's Golden Boy” Rouben Mamoulian season at the British Film Institute, London, 1-30 December 2008

(Wikipedia) Rouben Mamoulian (October 8, 1897 – December 4, 1987) was an Armenian-American film and theatre director.

Born in Tbilisi, Georgia (ruled at that time by imperial Russia) to an Armenian family, Rouben relocated to England and started directing plays in London in 1922. He moved to America the next year to teach in Eastman School of Music and was involved in directing opera and theatre. In 1930, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest "The correct pronunciation is roo-BEN ma-mool-YAN." (Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.)
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British Film Institute presents

Rouben Mamoulian: Hollywood's Golden Boy

1 - 30 Dec BFI Southbank

Revisit the glamour of Hollywood's Golden Age this Christmas with Hollywood's 'Golden Boy', Rouben Mamoulian. The centrepiece of the season is his sensual and stylish take on Robert Louis Stevenson's celebrated tale of terror Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, a searing study of desire and repression that features a stunning dual performance by Fredric March and ground-breaking special effects. Ever the showman, Mamoulian's varied career also took in Greta Garbo's 'comeback' in Queen Christina, Marlene Dietrich in The Song of Songs, Rita Hayworth in Blood and Sand and the sublime Silk Stockings starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse.

Rouben Mamoulian's technically audacious and inventive creations brought together painting, music, dance, sculpture, literature, theatre and film into a gloriously synthetic cinematic whole. Adrian Danks celebrates the work of one of classical Hollywood's most underrated auteurs.
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Time Out London: “This retrospective of one of the great Holywood artists opens with classic early sound film Applause”.

*photo – via Wikipedia (& Senses of Cinema); posters - Alternative Film Guide and BFI